


Body Switch

by Kyarorain



Category: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-15
Updated: 2011-11-15
Packaged: 2019-07-13 13:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16018433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyarorain/pseuds/Kyarorain
Summary: One morning, Yomiel and (cat)Sissel find out they have somehow managed to swap bodies. It's going to be a very long day.





	Body Switch

The first indication Sissel had of something being very wrong was when he woke up that morning. In the whole ten years he had been sort of dead, he had not slept a wink. Ghosts just didn't seem to be capable of sleeping. That was not the only thing that was wrong. He could actually feel something soft against his face and the weight of something draped over his body.

Sissel cracked open his eyes, blinking rapidly. The sight that greeted him seemed familiar but he knew right away that it wasn't somewhere in Detective Jowd's house. That was a problem, seeing as that was where he lived. Which meant he was currently not at home. He lay still, contemplating this alarming situation.

(Okay, let's see. I just woke up, I can feel, and I'm not in my house... yeah, this all makes so much sense. The third one could be easily explained, I suppose, by me being kidnapped or something odd like that. But the first two? I got nothing.)

Come to think of it, his body was feeling oddly out of proportion as well. Was it just him or were his limbs longer? He shifted around underneath the bedcover, his alarm mounting. It was like his body had grown to monstrous proportions. His front legs were bending in strange positions too. Then Sissel attempted to bring his paws to his face.

Except they were not paws, but hands. Sissel stared blankly at them, his mouth hanging open.

"What in the world?!" he exclaimed. His voice rang in his ears, making him realise he had just said that out loud. That was strange. He was usually only capable of mewing, or when in a really foul mood, hissing and growling.

It was pretty clear just from looking at these hands why he had suddenly become capable of actual human speech. Sissel was no longer in his own body, but that of a human.

(Just whose body is this?! What am I doing in here? Have I somehow gained the power to manipulate people and possessed someone without realising it? No. That doesn't explain being able to sleep or feel. I think. I should ask Yomiel.)

Sissel brought his hands to his face, rubbing them over the soft skin. He moved them up toward his hair, finding it to be hard and slightly sticky. His hands kept going up, running along his hair toward the tip. Unless there were other people out there with these pointy hairstyles, this hair had to belong to...

(No! No way! I can't be in Yomiel's body!)

Sissel sat up, pushing back the bedcovers and looking down at his body. Currently he was clad in briefs and a cotton top. That didn't tell him much about the owner of the body. Looking around the room, it really did seem familiar and he was sure he had been here at least once. Yeah, that was right, he had seen this room when exploring Yomiel's house. His gaze landed on a pair of sunglasses sitting upon the end table. They looked exactly like Yomiel's.

This was all getting too crazy for him to comprehend. It was like a crazy dream, but of course it couldn't be a dream, could it? Sissel clutched at his head. Already, a dull throb was building in his temples.

(If I'm here in Yomiel's body... then where is Yomiel?)

***

Yomiel was no stranger to the experience of being in Sissel's body. When he came to in that cat basket, he immediately knew what was happening. He furiously paced around the basket in a panic, struggling to get his thoughts together. None of this was making sense. Yomiel no longer had his ghost tricks, so how could he be manipulating Sissel?

(Are the gods playing some foul trick on me? This is just cruel.) Yomiel attempted to enter the Ghost World. To his dismay, it worked. The entire room was awash with a red hue and he saw an array of cores scattered around. (Hmm. It's red, not blue... so I'm using Sissel's powers?)

Yomiel had to tell somebody what was going on right away. The only person he could think of in this house who might be able to aid him was Detective Jowd. But where was he? Yomiel supposed he could try and find him, but the thought of stumbling upon the detective in his sleepwear was a little... well, he could wait a bit. What time was it? He glanced at the clock, noting the time. It was already after nine o'clock. Jowd would probably be down soon, hopefully.

The disgruntled man in a cat's body settled down in the basket, seething at this unforeseen predicament. (How did I end up like this? And where's Sissel? Uh oh... don't tell me...) If he was in Sissel's body, then Sissel could very well be in his. The very thought flooded him with horror. Sissel, being a cat, would hardly have much idea of how to do some things as a human, and there was the small matter of his fiancée, who would have absolutely no idea that the man she loved was being possessed by a cat. Unless Sissel told her. But would she even believe that?

His ears picked up the sound of approaching feet. Unfortunately, these footsteps were too light to belong to the detective. A certain young girl with purple hair, sporting a yellow ribbon, came into the room.

"Good morning, Sissel!" Kamila said cheerfully, approaching the basket. She picked up the cat and hugged him tightly.

(I don't want a hug. I want somebody to help me!) Yomiel thought, intensely annoyed at the attentions of the little girl. He wriggled in her arms, but it proved to be a futile act. "Let go already!" He mewed loudly, the only way to protest. Even if he was annoyed, he couldn't very well use his claws to escape. Detective Jowd and Sissel wouldn't be terribly happy if he put so much as a scratch on her. He would have to be on his best behaviour.

Kamila eventually put him down and went to make herself breakfast. Yomiel slipped out of the kitchen and into the next room, where he decided to wait.

Soon enough, he heard the heavy footsteps of the detective. Jowd came into the room, already clad in his suit. "Good morning, Kamila."

"Morning, Dad," Kamila said chirpily. She was sitting at the table eating cereal. "Are you going to work today?"

"Of course. As much as I wish the bad guys would stop doing bad things, it won't happen any time soon." Jowd exhaled deeply. "Huh?" He looked down at the little black kitten who was sitting at his feet, meowing furiously.

Unfortunately, Jowd did not have a core of the dead, a fact Yomiel found irritating. He couldn't even have managed to die in this timeline just once?

"What's wrong, Sissel?" Jowd knelt down, patting his head. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

Yomiel mewed some more, but the detective just gave him a quizzical look. "Darn it! How am I supposed to tell him something's wrong?" (Hmm... I wonder if they have a computer. It might be worth a try.)

"What's the matter with him?" Kamila wondered as the cat went running out of the room.

"Don't know. Too bad I don't speak cat." Jowd shrugged his shoulders. Maybe he was going to have to call Lynne over, if it was something serious. He went into the kitchen to get breakfast and returned, hastily munching on a slice of buttered toast. There wasn't much time left before he would have to go into work.

Yomiel had managed to find an old computer sitting in a dusty corner of an office, presumably the detective's. It didn't look like it had much use, but at least it was working. He turned it on and waited for what felt like a long, long time before it finally booted. "Finally. Now I'll just open the word processor... here we go." His grand plan was to type out a message to Jowd, in order to let him know what was going on.

However, it didn't turn out to be as easy as he thought it was. Paws were a very poor substitute for fingers as it turned out. After clumsily banging out his message on the keyboard, Yomiel glanced up at the screen to see a string of gibberish. (Damn. So much for that plan.)

"What are you doing?" Jowd was standing in the doorway, staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, Sissel, but I don't think you'll ever be ready to use computers." He picked the cat up and set him down on the floor.

"I'm not Sissel! Argh... how can I get him to understand me?" Yomiel hung his head despairingly.

"Is something wrong?" Jowd asked. "Okay, I'll call Lynne down here. She might not have gone into work yet."

(Finally.) Yomiel followed Jowd out of the office. Maybe now they could get somewhere.

***

Sissel was still sitting on the bed, struggling to comprehend this crazy situation. (How is this even possible?! What am I supposed to do now? It's not like there's anyone who could help me, right? I doubt this is a common phenomenon.) Had people ever switched bodies before? With animals, even? It didn't sound like something that happened in real life. (Well... if powers of the dead are possible, then...) Speaking of powers of the dead, he had already attempted to use them and failed miserably, so he could rule out an accidental possession of Yomiel's body. Like he could have accidentally jumped down the phone line and made his way to Yomiel's bedroom without realising it. Last thing he remembered, he had been lying in his basket.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing," Sissel muttered, struggling to his feet, a difficulty in itself when he wasn't used to being in a human body. This was a very bad idea when on a bed. He immediately lost his balance and fell back, flailing his arms helplessly. He hit the floor with a heavy thud and groaned as pain shot up and down his back. (Okay, that is definitely one thing I didn't miss.)

The silence was broken by the sound of hurrying feet. "Yomiel, are you okay?"

A face moved into Sissel's view, looking down at him with concern. This woman was none other than Yomiel's fiancée, his namesake. Sissel hadn't yet thought about what he was going to say to her. Could he really tell her he was possessing Yomiel's body? Maybe it would be better just to pretend to be Yomiel for now.

"It hurts..."

"Did you fall out of bed? Oh, you silly thing." She smiled teasingly.

(I guess you're not big on the whole sympathy thing.) Sissel rolled over onto his knees, rubbing his back. (I can't just stay in this room all day, as much as I'd like to. Suppose I'm just going to have to pretend to be Yomiel for a while. What would he do once he got out of bed?)

"I'll make us some breakfast soon. Just got to do something first." The other Sissel planted a kiss on his forehead before leaving the room.

(Get dressed? Yeah, that sounds about right. Where do people keep their clothes again? In a cupboard?) Sissel got up, somewhat shakily, and clumsily made his way to what appeared to be a closet. This walking on two legs thing was really difficult. He opened two of the doors and saw a row of what were undoubtedly Yomiel's suits hanging on the rack. Three red jackets, three matching pants, three black suits, a few white ties and even two pairs of matching white shoes. Sissel, being Sissel, didn't see anything odd about this.

(Let's see... I take this... this, and this... yeah, this looks about right.) Sissel laid the clothes out on the bed, smiling in satisfaction. It seemed he hadn't forgotten anything. (Now... how am I supposed to put them on?!)

The other Sissel returned to the bedroom a few minutes later and was greeted with a very surprising sight. Her fiancée, or who she thought was him, had his shirt on back to front and was currently struggling to get his feet down his pants. His face was twisted in sheer frustration.

"Yomiel... honey? Are you alright?"

Sissel ceased what he was doing. "Oh... er..." Great. Now how was he going to explain this? He had a nasty suspicion that his shirt wasn't even on right. Was it really supposed to be open at the back? Yeah, he was totally screwing up.

"Your shirt is on back to front," the fiancée pointed out.

Sissel sighed in dismay. Putting it on had been such a difficult task too. At least getting it off wasn't quite as hard. After a bit of difficulty, he managed to get it on right. Problem was, it was still open. He fingered it, finding the little buttons on the side, and grimaced. (Maybe I'll just leave it open.)

"You don't seem to be so good this morning. Is something wrong?" The other Sissel sat on the bed, watching him anxiously.

"I've just got a lot on my mind right now." Sissel picked up the pants again. It was a bit uncomfortable having her watching him while he struggled to put on clothes. She might end up realising something was wrong. He shoved his legs into the pants and pulled them up with a little difficulty.

"You do? Like what?"

"Um... just... stuff." (Yeah. I'm really good at this lying thing. Thank goodness she can't hear my thoughts.) He looked round for the shoes and managed to slip them onto his feet.

"No socks?"

"Socks?" Sissel repeated blankly. Uh oh. He'd forgotten something, hadn't he? What were socks supposed to be again? "I'll go without." They probably weren't that important anyway.

"Alright. So you won't even tell me what this stuff is?" She stuck her bottom lip out. "We don't keep secrets from each other, do we?"

(I'm pretty sure Yomiel hasn't told you about the powers of the dead. Or the cat he named after you.) Sissel picked up the tie and wrapped it around his neck. It still didn't look right. He held up one end of it, giving it a quizzical look. (Okay, I'm lost.)

"Would you... like me to do your tie for you?" Other Sissel asked tentatively.

"Yeah. That would be great. Thanks."

She leaned over to do his tie, and even buttoned his shirt. "All done! Goodness, you're really not yourself today, are you?"

(You have no idea how true that is.) Sissel slipped the jacket on. Was there anything he had forgotten? Oh, of course, the sunglasses. Yomiel never went anywhere without them, it seemed. Sissel wouldn't have minded not wearing them but he had to act like Yomiel in front of the fiancée.

"I'm going downstairs now. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah." (I think.) Sissel reached for the sunglasses and clumsily put them on his face, managing to accidentally poke himself in the eye. (Ow.) Fortunately, the fiancée had already left the room and didn't see his screw up.

(It's so dark!) Sissel stumbled around the room, feeling disoriented. (If this is what it's like in the daytime, I can't imagine what it must be like at night.) In his confusion, he ended up walking right into the door and clutched at his forehead, wincing. (I am getting really sick of this.)

Sissel made his way out of the room, heading toward the stairs. He looked down them and gulped. It was hard enough walking on a flat surface. Taking the stairs seemed downright dangerous in his situation, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. He slowly ascended down the stairs.

"One... two... three..." Sissel spoke slowly as he put each foot forward. So far, so good. Maybe he could make it to the bottom without messing up.

One foot suddenly slipped out from underneath him, causing him to lose his balance.

The other Sissel came running out of the kitchen when she heard the crash and found him lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. She gasped and went to kneel next to him. "Yomiel, are you alright? Should we take you to a doctor?"

(Are there any doctors capable of putting souls back in their rightful bodies?) Sissel wondered. (Nah. I sincerely doubt it.) "No, it's okay... I don't need a doctor."

"Why don't you go and sit down on the sofa for a bit?" The fiancée helped him to his feet and led him into the living room. She gently pushed him down onto the couch and patted some cushions. "Maybe you should lie down. Do you feel strange anywhere? What about your head?"

Sissel's head was starting to spin from all the questions she was throwing at him. He could barely keep track of them all. "I guess I just need to rest."

"Okay, but let me know if you need anything."

Sissel waited until she was gone and buried his face in the cushion, releasing an exasperated sigh. Now he had her convinced something was horribly wrong. Well, that was true at any rate. He desperately racked his brains, trying to think of what to do next. It didn't seem very sensible to leave the house in his current state.

***

Lynne had arrived at the house shortly after Detective Jowd made the call. "I came as soon as I could. What's the matter?"

"Something's up with Sissel," Jowd explained, gesturing at the cat. "I don't have a core of the dead so I can't tell what it is. I was hoping you could shed some light on the situation."

"I see." Lynne picked Yomiel up, gazing into his eyes and smiling. "Good morning, Sissel. What's up with you today?"

"I'm not Sissel!"

To say that Lynne was astonished to see Yomiel's form standing before her in the Ghost World was an understatement. "Huh...?" Her jaw dropped. "Y-Yomiel? Is that really you?"

"You think Sissel would play a prank like this?"

"But... but..." Lynne shook her head, struggling to comprehend the situation. "But you don't have ghost tricks anymore. Why are you in Sissel's body?"

"If I knew, would I have needed the detective to call you? I really don't know what's going on here. For some reason, when I woke up this morning, I was in his body." Yomiel's shoulders drooped. "I don't know where Sissel is. None of this is making any sense."

"You can say that again." Lynne kneaded her forehead with finger and thumb. "Of all the strange things I've seen, this has to take the cake." She broke off the conversation, turning to Detective Jowd. "Um, you're probably not going to believe this..."

"Oh, I'll believe anything," Jowd stated, shrugging his shoulders and smiling. "Try me."

"Yomiel is in Sissel's body."

"Huh?!" Jowd recoiled with an look of utter shock on his face. "Are you serious? But how... I don't understand this. Yomiel isn't a ghost anymore."

"Your guess is as good as mine," Lynne said. "Hmm, if Yomiel is in Sissel's body, then Sissel must be in Yomiel's body, right?"

(That's exactly what I'm afraid of,) Yomiel thought.

"If that's the case, you'd better go over there," Jowd said. "I imagine poor Sissel must be having trouble coping with a dilemma like this."

"Yeah... he's a cat after all. Being in a human body would have its complications," Lynne agreed. She glanced at Yomiel. "Do you want to come too?"

"You bet I do." (Please, gods, don't let Sissel have done something incredibly stupid in my body.)

***

Sissel was still lying on the sofa, trying to think of something to do. Without his ghost tricks, he was unable to go anywhere else through the phone lines and he hardly dared to go out and see anyone like this. If he was to fall over somewhere, say, right in the middle of the road, that could be incredibly bad. He didn't have the power to go back four minutes and stop himself from accidentally killing Yomiel. Better to just stay put for the time being. Maybe Yomiel would be the one to raise the alarm. Lynne was bound to go over to Detective Jowd's place eventually.

(How do I manage to end up in these situations?) Sissel thought wearily. (I just have the worst luck, don't I?)

"Are you feeling better yet?" the other Sissel asked, poking her head into the room. "Is there anything I could get you?"

The poor woman seemed incredibly worried about her fiancée, which was no surprise. She had seen him fall off the bed, fail horribly to put his clothes on properly and then take a tumble down the stairs. Anybody would think there was something very wrong with the person in those circumstances. Nobody would ever suspect them of being possessed by a cat though, that Sissel was quite sure of.

"Yeah, I feel somewhat better." That was a lie, but he didn't want her calling the doctor. "I don't need anything but thanks anyway."

"If you say so." She still had a doubtful look on her face as she backed out of the room.

"Oh, boy..." Sissel sat up and leaned back, staring up at the ceiling despondently. (I don't know what I'm going to do. What if this is permanent?) His chest fluttered with panic at the thought. (This is crazy! I can't live as Yomiel!)

A few minutes later, a chiming sound rang out through the house. Believing it to be the doorbell, Sissel leaped off the sofa and stumbled to the front door, nearly tripping over his feet in his hurry to get there. He wrenched it open and saw Lynne standing on the doorstep, clutching his actual body in her arms. His relief at seeing her was immense.

"Lynne!" Sissel cried out, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. He'd never been able to do it as a cat. Might as well do it now while it was possible. Lynne's face registered mild surprise at the motion.

The Ghost World bloomed around them and an annoyed Yomiel was looking at Sissel with a hand on one hip. "Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?"

Sissel calmly responded, "This is an action that people tend to carry out when they are happy to see each other. I believe that it is called a hug." (What's the big deal? She hugs me all the time!)

"Kind of caught me by surprise there." Lynne laughed awkwardly. "I mean, that is Yomiel's body."

Yomiel exhaled through his teeth. "I just don't want my fiancée to see me hugging a woman who, as far as she knows, I don't even know all that well."

"Oh. Uh. Right." Sissel didn't really see the big deal but he wasn't going to press the matter. Anyway, what did him hugging Lynne matter at a time like this? Surely there were far more important things to be discussing right now, like the fact he and Yomiel had switched bodies maybe?

"This might be a stupid question," Lynne said, tapping her chin, "but do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Not at all."

"Figures." Lynne spread her arms helplessly. "I suppose this sort of thing has never happened before either."

"Not that I know of," Yomiel said. "How have you been doing in my body, Sissel?" He held his breath, dreading the answer.

"Well, let's see, your fiancée is this close to calling a doctor for me," Sissel stated, holding his index finger and thumb a mere inch apart, "possibly because I've managed to fall out of bed, do a terrible job of putting my clothes on, and then fall down the stairs. Good thing she didn't see me walk into the door."

Yomiel stared at him, his jaw hanging down so far that it was practically hitting the floor. Or it would have been, was there actually a floor in the Ghost World.

"How did you manage to walk into the door?" Lynne asked incredulously.

"The sunglasses made it hard to see! Seriously, Yomiel, if it's this hard to see in the daytime, what must it be like at night?" (Though admittedly it is getting easier the more I wear them, but still...)

"Oh gods." Yomiel buried his face in his hands. "I'm going to be covered in bruises. Wait, you dressed yourself?"

"I had a lot of help from your fiancée actually. Couldn't figure out how to do the tie or buttons. That, and I put the shirt on back to front at first."

"Are you wearing underwear?" Yomiel asked in a panicky voice. "Please tell me you are!"

"Wow. Hello, there's a lady present," Lynne muttered, her face twisting in a grimace.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Yomiel looked embarrassed. "You didn't hear me say that, okay?"

"We should figure out what we're going to do next," Sissel pointed out. (Yomiel looks like he's about to lose it. We'd better figure something out fast.)

The conversation came to an end and Sissel stepped back, letting go of Lynne. He glanced at the body she was clutching in her arms. No chance of getting back in there. "So, Yomiel, you've got my ghost tricks, right?"

"Yeah, I have. On top of that, I am once again trapped inside an immortal, unfeeling body. The best thing about having my life saved was that I didn't have to be like this anymore!" Yomiel exclaimed shrilly.

"Calm down, Yomiel. We'll find a way to get you two back to normal," Lynne said, attempting to reassure him. "Don't worry. We won't rest until the both of you are back in your own bodies."

"Who is it?" The other Sissel came out of the kitchen to greet their visitors. "Oh, hello, Detective."

"Please, just call me Lynne," the redhead insisted. "I came over to see Yomiel."

"I see. What's all this about?" She noticed the kitten in her arms. "You brought the kitten as well."

"Why don't you hold him?" Lynne held out Yomiel to her. "He's in a bit of a bad mood. I bet if you pet him, he'll feel much better."

"Oh. Okay." The fiancée took the kitten from her arms. "Who's a cute little thing?"

While she was distracted, Lynne took Sissel aside to talk in private. "Alright, what should we do now? I suppose you can't stay here, not with Yomiel's fiancée around. She doesn't know what's going on, I take it."

"No, but she is very worried about me. I can't have her calling the doctor. He won't find much wrong with me, I imagine."

"So we should go somewhere else. Why don't we just head back to Detective Jowd's place for now?" Lynne suggested. "But, you know, I really don't know how we're going to solve this. You really don't know what could have led to something like this happening?"

"If I did, I would have said." Sissel sighed. "Could this have something to do with the powers of the dead? I just don't know."

"For now, let's just take things one step at a time. Okay, you should let her know that you're leaving. Just tell her it's a very important case or something."

"Yeah, okay." Sissel left her side and approached the fiancée, who was engrossed in cuddling the kitten. "Um... Sissel?"

"Yeah?" She looked up at him curiously.

"Something has come up and I've got to go with Lynne. It's some top secret case that she wants my help on."

"Oh? But I thought you weren't feeling very well. Is it really okay for you to go?"

"I'm feeling a lot better and Lynne will look out for me so it's alright."

"Okay. I suppose you'll be taking little Sissel too, right?" She handed the kitten over and Sissel took him. It was very strange to be holding his own body like this.

"Getting petted by my fiancée would have been much nicer was I capable of, you know, feeling." Yomiel's voice had a sharp edge to it.

"I'm sorry... I wish I could do something..."

"Ah, don't apologise. It's not like it's your fault this is happening. I just really don't like being in this state." On top of that, Yomiel was feeling scared, though he didn't mention it. What if they didn't switch back?

"Bye, sweetie. Be careful out there, won't you?"

"Yeah, I will." (Frankly, I've done a horrible job at being careful so far. I really have to get it together before I end up causing some nasty injury to Yomiel's body.)

"Darn right you better," Yomiel said.

Sissel went out the front door and almost ended up landing face first on the pavement when he stumbled on the step. Lynne grabbed him round the waist just in time and yanked him back.

"Mind the step, Sissel," the exasperated detective hissed.

"This is going to be a long day," Yomiel moaned. He jumped down to the ground and walked out of the house, the others following him outside.

The other Sissel's attention had fortunately been diverted at this point by a crease in the rug which she got to work on smoothing out. "Bye!" she called out, waving to them before closing the door.

"Well then." Lynne put on a big, fake smile. "Off to Detective Jowd's!" She slipped a hand into Sissel's, gripping it firmly. Better to be safe than sorry, especially when crossing the road.

***

"We made it!" Lynne cheered as she walked through the front door of the house, punching the air.

"What's with the enthusiasm?" Sissel asked. "I wasn't that bad." (Okay, I stumbled once or twice, but at least I didn't fall over again.)

"So you're back." Detective Jowd came walking over. He glanced at the blond man. "I take it you're Sissel?"

"Yeah, that's right." Sissel sighed. "I really don't know why this is happening and being inside a human body is a real pain. I've been walking into things and falling over."

"Oh dear." Jowd chuckled. "Sounds like you're in quite the sticky situation. Hope you can all figure something out together."

(Hmph. This isn't funny,) Yomiel thought, feeling annoyed again. (What are you chuckling like that for?) He certainly could not see the lighter side of things. Being stuck in a feline body was not amusing in the least. What if he wasn't back in his own body in a week? After all, that was when his wedding was. (Oh gods. What if this had happened on my wedding day? What will happen if we haven't switched back by then?!)

"Hey, it's a bit too soon to panic, isn't it?" Lynne gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure it won't last that long."

"But what if it does?! I don't want Sissel marrying Sissel!"

"What exactly does marrying mean again?" Sissel asked.

Yomiel's response was to curl up into a shaking ball. Jowd stared at the furry black heap that was a distraught man in a cat's body.

"He's not taking this well," Lynne stated.

"Thanks for that, Captain Obvious," Sissel said. Lynne threw him an irritated look. "So, what are we going to do now?"

"I suppose we'll just sit and talk about this. If we go through the events that happened leading up to this, we might find a clue," Lynne suggested.

"That's probably the only thing you can do at the moment." Jowd nodded thoughtfully, crossing his arms over his chest. "Of course it's hard to come up with a solution when we've never seen anything like this before. I wish I could help, but I'll have to go into work now. I'll leave it to you, Lynne."

"Yes, sir!" Lynne said. She went to sit at the table and Sissel sat himself on another chair. Yomiel was still curled up on the floor, trying to will himself to wake from this nightmare. Not a very effective method when this wasn't simply a horrible dream.

Kamila entered the room, seeing her father about to go out the door. "Bye, Dad!" she called out, waving. Her attention was drawn to the shivering kitten and her forehead knitted in a concerned frown. "Oh no, what's wrong with Sissel?" She walked over and knelt down next to him, stroking his fur. "Are you okay?"

"The cat's just having a mental breakdown," Lynne said. "I'm sure he'll recover soon."

"Huh. I didn't know cats could have breakdowns." Kamila's mouth formed a surprised 'O'. "But what happened to make him this upset? Poor thing." She resumed her stroking of the kitten in an attempt to console him. Needless to say, it didn't do much good.

"So, about last night," Lynne started speaking to Sissel in a hushed voice, "Can you remember anything?"

"Well, I was just lying in my cat basket as usual," Sissel responded in an equally quiet voice, "That's the last thing I remember. After that, I guess I fell asleep... but I suppose it was more like I had switched to Yomiel's body at that point. Then I woke up in his bed."

"Nothing particularly special happened last night for me either," said Yomiel. "I went to sleep and that was it. Then it was morning and I was suddenly in Sissel's body."

"Sissel isn't capable of sleeping in that body, right?" Lynne asked. Sissel nodded in response. "Hmm, it must have happened in the morning. You two really can't think of anything at all? Maybe Sissel thought of something random like 'I wonder what it would be like to be in a human's body' and all of a sudden, you switched bodies. Who knows-"

"If the powers of the dead were capable of granting wishes, do you think I would have been wandering around and suffering for ten years?!"

"Yomiel. I know you're stressed, but don't take it out on Lynne," Sissel said calmly. "She's just trying to help, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry." Yomiel exhaled heavily and hung his head. "It's just, the combination of being stuck in this undead body and knowing my wedding is coming up soon... it's driving me up the wall."

***

The phone rang and Kamila went to answer it. "Hello? Dad? Oh, you want to speak to Lynne? Lynne, it's for you." She held out the receiver and Lynne went over to take it from her.

"Yes, what is it?" Lynne spoke. "Huh? Are you serious? Can't somebody else handle it?" Her voice rose slightly, suggesting that she was slightly agitated by whatever Jowd had just said. "Oh, I understand. Maybe I'll just, well, you know. I'll be over there soon." She set the phone down, sighing, and her shoulders visibly slumped.

"What's the matter with you?" Yomiel inquired. He hadn't bothered going into the phone to listen. It wasn't exactly a habit of his to begin with. That was more Sissel's thing.

"It's not my day off and I'm supposed to be at work," Lynne replied, "It seems that someone just reported a body and I have to go over there to check it out. Most of the other detectives on duty are busy with a big case right now."

"So you're the only one who can go?" Sissel guessed. "I'd offer to help out, but well... no powers of the dead right now. Hey, come to think of it... Yomiel has my powers."

"You seriously aren't suggesting I save this person, are you?"

"Why not? You don't have a problem with doing heroic things, do you?" Lynne flashed him a smile. "Wasn't it you who threw yourself underneath a falling rock so you could throw me out of the way in the park ten years ago?"

"Well, yeah, but... that was more a combination of wanting to help Sissel and the fact I wanted to repay you in a way for the whole saving me from the darkness thing. This is just some random person I probably don't know. Besides, we can't just leave Sissel here, can we? You're not suggesting we drag him along to the crime scene?"

"Oh, Sissel will be fine." Lynne flapped a hand dismissively. "As long as he stays here and behaves himself, it's okay. Anyway, he's totally getting better at the not falling over thing, don't you think?"

"Don't worry, Yomiel," Sissel said. "I won't do anything to hurt your body any further, I promise. I'll just sit here until you get back or something. Anyway, what's the worst that could possibly happen? Go with Lynne. It might be nice to play the hero, don't you think?"

"Oh, alright." Yomiel gave an exaggerated sigh. To be honest, he didn't mind the idea of saving a life all that much. He was just worried about the dangers of leaving Sissel alone in his body. The hapless cat had not been doing a very good job of taking care of it so far. "But you had better behave yourself while we're gone."

"Of course." (What does he think I'm planning to do anyway?)

"Great. Anyway, even if Sissel messes up, it will be erased from history," Lynne pointed out. "You know, saving the guy's life will mean we never had to go out and save his life in the first place, and therefore we wouldn't let Sissel do something stupid. Time travel is weird like that."

(Is everyone convinced I'm going to do something stupid?)

Lynne picked up the kitten. "See you later!" She hurried out the front door, leaving Sissel alone in the room. He rested his arms on the table and exhaled heavily.

"Now I'm all on my own." (Hope they don't take too long. This could get boring.)

"Huh?" Kamila had come back into the room and was looking around. "Where did Lynne go?"

"She went out." Sissel decided to omit the fact she had gone to what was apparently a crime scene. No need to tell her that.

"Really? And she left you alone here?" Kamila's brow creased in puzzlement. "Why are you here anyway, Mister... um..." She fell silent, apparently struggling to remember his name.

"Yomiel." Sissel couldn't think of a very good excuse for why he was here, in someone else's body. It was kind of strange to think he wasn't supposed to be in his own home by himself like this. "Your dad wanted me to stay here." Well, that was good enough, he supposed.

"Lynne took Sissel too, didn't she?" Kamila looked into the kitchen to check. "It's rather odd how she keeps taking Sissel off to places. I wonder where she goes. Do you know?"

"Not at all," Sissel lied.

"You looked kind of bored just now when I came in," Kamila pointed out. "It really seems like you're just sitting here doing nothing. Hey, do you want to do something with me until Lynne comes back?"

"Uh..." It was true that Sissel was bored, but he supposed he had to sit there and do nothing. Then again, Lynne had said anything he did would be erased from history so maybe it didn't matter. It wasn't like she or Yomiel were going to find out, right? "Sure. What have you got in mind?"

"Let's go out. There's this new playground that was built a few blocks away and I've been wanting to go, but Mom and Dad have been too busy with work to take me lately. It's no fun going on my own. After all, who's going to push me on the swings?"

That sounded fairly harmless. "Alright, let's go then."

"Yay!" Kamila jumped up and down delightedly. "You're a pretty nice person, Mister Yomiel."

(Except I'm actually your cat and I find it really hard to say no to you.)

Kamila headed to the front door and Sissel followed her outside. Everything was going to be fine, he thought. How very wrong he was.

***

"Hey, check out the suit on that guy. Pretty nice, isn't it?"

"I don't know. All that red, it's a bit blinding. He probably never has to worry about being hit by a car at night."

"That's not the point. I bet he's got cash on him."

"He's got some little kid with him. His daughter?"

"Hey, why don't we mug him? It's been ages since we've done a good old fashioned mugging. With a kid around, he won't be in any position to resist."

"Great idea. We'll jump him from that alleyway up ahead. Let's go."

Sissel was very surprised when three men suddenly jumped out from the alleyway right in front of him. They all had menacing expressions and he had a feeling he was in trouble. "What do you want?"

Rather than answering, two of them grabbed him by the arms and pulled him into the alleyway. Sissel was roughly pushed up against the wall. "H-hey!" He heard a shriek and turned his head to see Kamila being held by the third man with a look of sheer terror on her face. "Kamila!"

"Give us some money and we won't do anything to her."

"M-money?" Sissel repeated blankly. Sure, he had heard the word before and apparently people used this money to buy things. The problem was, he wasn't even aware if he had any on himself. The only things of Yomiel's he had taken out of the house were his clothes so he doubted he had any. "I don't think I have any money."

"Like we're gonna believe that!"

A fist slammed into his gut and his breath escaped him in a quiet little "oof".

"Come on, you must have some money on you. We weren't born yesterday, you know."

Now the men's greasy hands were patting his body, presumably searching for this money. Sissel would have tried to fight them off except for the fact he really had no idea how to fight. As a human anyway. Fingernails wouldn't be as effective as claws.

"Uh, I think he might be telling the truth."

"Damn it!"

A rough shove sent Sissel sprawling to the ground. Now the two men were kicking at him. He instinctively curled up to protect himself from the blows. His body throbbed furiously from the blows he had already taken.

(Hey, Yomiel, if you're going to avert that dead person's fate, now would be a great time. Really.)

"If you want your little girl back, bring some money with you to the parking lot behind Spector's, the department store. We'll be waiting for you. Don't try anything funny like calling the police."

A particularly hard blow to the head sent him reeling into darkness. The last thing he saw was Kamila being dragged away, with a hand clamped over her mouth, stifling her cries. (Kamila...)

Sissel awoke a couple of minutes later and struggled into a sitting position, wincing and gritting his teeth. Yeah, he really had not missed feeling pain, not at all, and was not terribly grateful to be able to feel it again. (Seriously, what's taking Yomiel so long?!) With Kamila in danger, he couldn't stay sitting in that alleyway forever. He struggled to his feet, clutching his pained chest, and staggered out of the alleyway, grimacing. It really hurt where he had been kicked.

"Oh my goodness. Are you okay?" a woman inquired, approaching him.

"I just got beaten up," Sissel gasped out, "and a little girl is in trouble. Where's the police station?" The fact that the men had told him not to call the police didn't matter. He needed to see Detective Jowd and let him know what was going on right away,

"Shall I drive you to the station? My car is parked just over there."

What luck. Sissel wasn't keen on the idea of having to walk anywhere in his current state. He got into the woman's car and in just a few minutes, it pulled up outside the police station.

"Thanks for the help," Sissel said, clambering out of the car. Finding Detective Jowd wasn't too difficult, fortunately. The first officer he saw showed him to the detective's desk right away once he asked.

Jowd was surprised at the sight of him stumbling over and clutching himself. "Sissel? What happened?"

Sissel sank down into a chair, groaning. "Uh... I got beaten up."

"At the house? Really?"

"Uh... no." Sissel looked sheepish. "Out on the street."

"Were you with Lynne and Yomiel? Where are they?"

"I wasn't with them."

"I see." Jowd sat back in the chair, seeming puzzled. "What were you doing out in the street all by yourself, then? Surely you were supposed to stay put?"

"Well, um..." Sissel looked away evasively. He really had no good excuse. "I figured since Yomiel was going to save someone, it wouldn't matter. Time would change so that Lynne never had to leave the house, right?" (He sure is taking his time. Maybe Lynne hasn't even got there yet.)

"So you decided to go for a walk or something?"

"Not quite. Kamila wanted to go to the playground and I went with her, but..."

"Kamila?!" Jowd leaned forward, alarmed. "Where is she?"

"These men jumped on me and said they wanted my money, but I don't think I even have any. So they took her away and told me to bring some. One of the guys said they were taking her to the parking lot behind Spector's department store." Sissel stared down at his lap guiltily. "I'm sorry... I couldn't do anything."

Jowd exhaled heavily and shook his head. "It's okay. I'll go and save her now. Those men will be sorry they messed with my family." He got up from the desk and walked past, patting Sissel's shoulder. "Just wait here. I'll be back soon."

Sissel watched him leave then leaned back and stared up at the ceiling despondently. (This is the worst day ever.)

***

The three men who had attempted to mug Sissel were sitting on a low wall behind the department store, patiently waiting for him to turn up. Kamila was sandwiched between two of them with a gag wrapped securely around her mouth.

"Is that guy ever going to turn up? I'm getting real impatient here."

"He's bound to. I'm sure he wants his little girl back."

"Poor little kid." The man who spoke chuckled in an unsympathetic matter. He looked at the trembling young girl. Her eyes were wide as saucers. "Don't worry, kiddo. I'm sure your dad will get here soon."

Kamila made a series of muffled noises. Presumably she was trying to tell them that he wasn't her dad, but it was difficult with this gag stuffed halfway in her mouth.

"What's wrong, little girl? You want to say something? Ah, but we can't very well take that off, you know. You might try something funny like screaming for help and we can't risk that."

Kamila lowered her head, staring down at her lap. She struggled to hold back the tears that threatened to spill forth. How could a simple little trip to the playground have ended up like this?

"Hey, someone's coming! Quick, hide her!"

The men got off the wall and two of them stood in front of Kamila, with the other one behind her. This was apparently an effective way of hiding her from view. Jowd came striding over and gave them a severe look.

"Are you going to give me my daughter back?"

"... Daughter?"

The men looked at each other in confusion. Evidently, they were missing something here.

"Uh... this daughter of yours doesn't have a yellow bow, does she?"

"Idiot!" the other man kicked him. "We're supposed to pretend we don't have a hostage!"

"Crap," said the third man. They were clearly the worst criminals ever.

"If you don't let her go, things might get nasty." Jowd pulled his coat away from his waist, revealing his gun.

"Ah! H-he's got a gun!"

"Don't tell me... he's a cop?!"

"Son of a...!"

The men ran away screaming, leaving Kamila standing there. Jowd hurried over and removed the gag. "Are you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Dad!" Kamila hugged him, smiling in relief. "I'm okay. That was scary though. They hurt poor Mister Yomiel... he was lying on the ground and it looked like he was in a lot of pain."

"He's at the station. Don't worry, he's fine," Jowd assured her. "Let's go back to the station. I've got some reports to fill out."

***

Sissel was engrossed in the exciting activity of rolling a pencil across Jowd's desk. It was better than just sitting there and staring at the walls anyway. He was really, really missing his ghost tricks. Those were always fun when he was feeling bored, not that that happened too much.

"Mister Yomiel! You're alright!"

Sissel looked up to see Kamila, feeling a surge of relief. It was good to see that the little lady wasn't hurt. He had been feeling pretty bad about not being able to help her out back there. "Kamila. I'm glad you're okay."

Jowd sat down at the desk and took some sheets of paper. "Kamila, why don't you sit down? I'll take you home later."

Kamila pulled up a chair and seated herself. "I really wanted to go to that playground," she said, sighing. "Oh well. I can go another time, I guess."

The phone rang shrilly and Jowd picked it up. "Detective Jowd speaking. Lynne? What, you're back at the house?"

Sissel had a feeling that something was horribly wrong here. If Lynne was back at the house by now, what was he doing here and why hadn't time changed? (Uh oh. Don't tell me...)

"Sissel? Oh, he's..." Jowd remembered the presence of Kamila. "Anyway, Yomiel is here. Yeah. Kamila as well. Could you come over and take her home for me? I'm sure you'll want to take Yomiel back home too. But what happened? Weren't you supposed to save... oh. Oh, I see. That's too bad." He set the phone down. "I don't believe it."

"Don't believe what?" Sissel inquired nervously. Could it be that Yomiel hadn't been able to save that person? They could have died more than twenty four hours ago or had taken more than four minutes to die. He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of that. He had blindly assumed that Yomiel would be able to save them and now he regretted it.

"It was a mannequin," Jowd said dully. "The person who called it in was drunk. Who goes around drinking at ten in the morning?!"

"Huh? Did somebody mistake a mannequin for a body?" Kamila spoke up. "Wow. That's really silly."

Sissel buried his face in his hands. He simply could not believe it either. This day was just going from bad to worse. Lynne and Yomiel were well aware of what he had done now and nothing could be done about it. He was going to be in big trouble alright.

"Too bad, hm?" Jowd smiled sympathetically. "Should have behaved yourself and stayed at home." He got to work on filling out the reports.

In the next instant, Sissel found himself back in the Ghost World and looking up at Yomiel, who, to put it mildly, did not look very happy.

"Sissel."

"Uh..."

"Lynne takes me all the way out there only for us to find out it was a mannequin and then we come back to discover that you absconded with my body?"

"I kinda thought if you averted their fate, none of this would matter, because it wouldn't have happened." Sissel flattened his ears against his head. Yomiel was looking even madder than he did that time Sissel had accidentally erased an hour's worth of work by walking on the computer keyboard.

"There wasn't any fate to avert!" Yomiel fell silent and pressed his fingers against his forehead, evidently struggling to keep calm. "What are you doing at the police station?"

"Kamila wanted me to go with her to the playground. We never got there because some guys jumped on me and they wanted money. I don't think I even had any on me."

"Oh, gods." Yomiel put his face in his hands. "I am so glad you didn't take my wallet with you. They didn't rough you up, did they?"

"A bit..."

"You're doing such a great job of taking care of my body," Yomiel said sarcastically.

"This coming from the man who managed to lose it twice in one night?"

That shut Yomiel up. "So what happened after that?"

"They took Kamila away but Detective Jowd went and saved her so everything is okay now."

"I see." Yomiel smiled ruefully. "Glad you didn't get stabbed or something. They could have..." He swallowed thickly. "Thank goodness you're alright, Sissel. Even in my body, I don't want you getting hurt or worse."

"Yeah, I'm glad too. I really don't want anything to happen to your body. It's just... I couldn't fight off those men," Sissel said. "No claws, you know?"

"True. I wouldn't expect you to be able to put up a fight the way you are now. That was just some really, really bad luck."

"We seem to be suffering from a lot of bad luck today."

"Quite. I'm heading back now. See you there."

The Ghost World faded away and Sissel had his view of the detective's desk back. "What a day."

"No kidding," Jowd murmured, deeply absorbed in his task.

"It was kinda exciting," Kamila said, a wide smile spreading across her face. "Pretty scary, yeah, but I got to see my dad being a hero. That was neat."

Sissel turned his head to stare at her. She appeared to have recovered from that trauma surprisingly fast. (Well, that's good anyway. I wouldn't want her to be suffering from nightmares after this.)

Lynne arrived at the station a short while after that. She placed her hands on her hips, giving Sissel a sharp look. "What are we going to do with you, huh?"

"Please don't be mad at him," Kamila said. "It was my fault. I wanted him to come to the playground with me. I'm really sorry."

"Oh, well, in that case, I guess I'll let him off. How come you ended up at the police station?"

"I got taken hostage, but Dad saved me."

This girl was good at getting kidnapped, Lynne thought, but she really couldn't judge seeing as she was even worse with the whole dying thing. "I see. Hmph. I can't believe I got called out to a crime scene and it turned out to be a mannequin!"

"Sorry about that, Lynne," Jowd said, "The person who took the call said he sounded tipsy, but I would have thought even someone who was intoxicated would be able to identify a dead body. We can't really ignore such reports, you know, no matter how dodgy they might be."

"I had half a mind to arrest him on the spot for wasting police time. He could have done with some sobering up in a nice, cosy cell."

"But at least it wasn't a dead body. That's good, right?" Kamila asked.

"Uh, well... yeah. Can't really argue with that." Lynne shrugged and smiled. "Okay, let's go home then."

***

"Ahh." Sissel sank down into the sofa and rested against the cushions with a blissful smile on his face. "I'm so glad to be back home."

"Careful," Lynne warned. "Kamila might hear you." Kamila would think it very odd for a man who didn't even live here to be calling the place home. She leaned against the arm of the sofa. "What are we doing anyway? At this rate, we're just going to be sitting on our butts all day long waiting to see if you two switch back."

"Well, if you have any better ideas..."

"I don't."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Where did Yomiel go?" Lynne left the room in search of the wayward kitten.

Kamila entered the room a moment later, staring at Sissel, who was curled up against the cushions, almost in a ball. It was just how he was used to lying down and even in a human body, he could still manage it.

"Are you tired, Mister Yomiel?"

"I suppose so. It's been a rough morning."

"That's true. You aren't badly hurt, are you? It was awful watching those men kick you like that. I was really worried."

"Really, I'm okay." It really was a good thing he hadn't been stabbed, like Yomiel had said. That would have been a really nasty sight for her and Sissel didn't want her to see such things. "Don't worry anymore, alright? At least you're safe."

"It's such a shame we couldn't go to the playground after all." Kamila seated herself on a chair. "It would have been fun."

"Maybe Lynne can take you sometime," Sissel suggested. "You should ask her."

"Hm, yeah, that's not such a bad idea." Kamila continued staring at him. "Um, how do you do that with your hair? I've kind of been wondering about it. It's really pointy."

If Sissel remembered correctly, it was due to copious amounts of hairgel. He wasn't sure what it was but it was evidently really important for keeping this sort of hairstyle intact. Did Yomiel ever wear it down? "Hairgel. Lots of it."

"I see. Actually... I hope you don't mind me saying this, but it kind of looks like a banana."

A banana? As in those long, yellow things he often saw in the fruit bowl? Come to think of it... bananas did look a lot like Yomiel's hair. Sissel burst out laughing, his sides shaking. The image of Yomiel with a banana on his head was just really hilarious. (I've never laughed like this before. It's kinda making my chest hurt.) And, yet, he couldn't stop.

"Okay." Kamila blinked slowly. "I didn't think you would find it that funny."

Yomiel entered the room and walked over, staring at Sissel who was still in hysterics. "Just what is so funny?"

Sissel couldn't answer. He wasn't sure Yomiel would find it quite so amusing.

"Hey, Sissel," Kamila said, noticing the cat, "don't you think Mister Yomiel's hair looks like a banana?"

(Oh, rats.)

It was just as Sissel had feared, Yomiel was not amused, and made it quite clear by hissing noisily. Kamila flinched, letting out a short cry of shock.

"YOMIEL!"

A heavy, uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Lynne stood there, her mouth hanging open in horror as her mistake became all to clear to her. She had shouted Yomiel's name out loud. At the cat. With Kamila present. This was really bad.

(Smooth, Lynne. Real smooth,) Sissel thought.

(Hmph. She insulted my hair. She deserved it,) Yomiel was thinking. (No need to shout at me.)

"Um... his name is Sissel?" Kamila said tentatively.

"Oh, er, yeah, of course it is. I know that!" Lynne laughed awkwardly. She reached out and picked up the kitten. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to... spend some time with Sissel." She raced out of the room.

(What's she going to do now?) Sissel wondered. (Tell Yomiel off?)

"Why did she call the cat by your name?" Kamila asked. "Lynne knows his name. It's weird."

Sissel kept quiet. Maybe she would just forget about it. No need to dig that particular hole any deeper than it already was.

"And why would Sissel get mad at me for saying your hair looks like a banana? That's just strange. Sissel has never hissed at me before."

(Please, please, can you just think about something else?) Sissel thought he could feel a drop of sweat running down his skin. He closed his eyes and burrowed deeper into the cushion.

Kamila silently sat there, giving him a very suspicious stare. Now that she thought about it, this whole setup was odd. What were Lynne and this man doing in the house when her dad wasn't even here anyway? Why had Lynne called the cat by the wrong name? Why had Sissel hissed at her? It was almost like Sissel wasn't Sissel. A crazy thought occurred to her. What if the cat was actually Yomiel? Then that meant Sissel was...

"Sissel?"

"Yeah?"

"Ah!" Kamila leaped out of the chair, clapping her hands over her mouth.

(What? Why is she... oh. Oh. Darn it!) Sissel had completely fallen into that trap. Well, he couldn't help it. Responding to his own name was perfectly natural.

"You're Sissel?" Kamila cried out incredulously. "You switched bodies with Mister Yomiel?"

Lynne returned to the room to hear Kamila's outburst. She threw her arms up in despair. "You know what? Forget it. We'll just let Kamila in on the secret. She already knows too much."

"I don't believe it," Kamila said, her eyes widening. "How did this happen?"

"No idea." Sissel sat up. "We're just waiting to see if we ever switch back."

"How long has this been going on for?"

"Since early this morning," Lynne said.

Yomiel entered the room. (So she knows everything now? Brilliant. Why don't we just tell everyone we know? I'm sure my fiancée would be absolutely thrilled to find out I'm in the body of a cat.)

"Um, Mister Yomiel?" Kamila knelt down before the cat. "I'm sorry I said your hair looked like a banana. It wasn't very nice of me."

"His hair looks like a..." Lynne's cheeks puffed up and she clapped a hand over her mouth, struggling to stifle the laughter that welled up inside her. She was doing a very poor job of it. Yomiel glared up at her.

A loud growl sounded through the room. All eyes were suddenly on Sissel.

"I'm hungry," Sissel announced.

"You didn't have breakfast, did you? Okay, I'm going to order us some chicken," Lynne declared. "All that walking worked up an appetite. I bet you've always been wanting to try some chicken from the Chicken Kitchen, haven't you, Sissel? Kamila, do you want chicken?"

"Yeah, sure."

Lynne returned to the kitchen. Kamila sat back down, slowly shaking her head.

"This is incredible," the young girl said, "I thought this kind of thing only happened in fiction."

(She's taking this well,) Sissel thought. (I hope she doesn't end up learning about the powers of the dead too. I've been trying my best to keep that one a secret.)

Yomiel jumped up onto an armchair and curled up in a ball. It was all one ridiculous thing after another. He just wanted to ignore everyone and everything for a while.

After what seemed like an eternity, the chicken finally arrived. After giving the chef an earful, Lynne set everything out on the table. "Chicken's a bit cold, but it should still be good."

"Great, I'm starving." Sissel sat down next to her, licking his lips as he eyed the plump chicken on the plate. His mouth was filling up with saliva as a delicious aroma wafted up his nostrils. Before he knew what he was doing, his head was bending down as he prepared to take a big bite out of it.

A hand closed around his hair and yanked hard, pulling his head back.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Lynne hissed.

"Oh, right. Human body." Sissel picked the utensils up and eyed them curiously. "A little help here?"

"We should have just made sandwiches," Kamila said.

"I guess I didn't think ahead," Lynne said sheepishly.

(You were just thinking with your stomach, weren't you?)

Lynne gave Sissel a quick tutorial on using the intensils. Soon enough, he was able to eat his chicken in the same way as Lynne and Kamila. The chicken was just as good as he had thought it would be. Now he could understand why Jowd and Lynne were so much in love with this chicken.

After lunch, they returned to the living room and watched television. It was a terribly unproductive thing to be doing, especially for Lynne who should have been at work that day, but somebody had to be there to help Sissel out.

It wasn't long before he needed helping out again.

"Uh... Lynne?"

"Yeah?"

"I..." Sissel faltered, looking away uncomfortably. This wasn't the kind of subject that came up in everyday conversation. "I need to... do that thing..."

"Very specific, Sissel," Lynne said dryly.

"You know... that I do in the... tray..."

"Litter tray?" Kamila guessed. "Come to think of it, I've never even seen you use it. But you can't use the tray like that, can you?"

Lynne buried her face in her hands.

"You have got to be kidding me," Yomiel groaned. "Can't you hold it in?" It occurred to him that that wasn't the most sensible idea. It might not be hours, but days or even weeks before they switched back. Holding it in was definitely not an option in that case. "On second thought, maybe not."

"I can't do this," Lynne was muttering, shaking her head. "This is not something I want to deal with. Please don't make me."

"Believe me, I won't," Yomiel stated. Last thing he wanted was Lynne seeing his junk. "Okay, Sissel, which is it?"

"Which...? Which what?"

"Oh, come on! Is it the wet one or the smelly brown one?"

Lynne started making odd choking noises and jumped up from the couch, running out of the room.

"Lynne?" Kamila stared in the direction she had gone. Since she couldn't hear the conversation going on in the Ghost World, she naturally had no idea what had caused her to run out like that.

Sissel was beginning to wish he had never said anything now. "The wet one," he spoke faintly.

"Great. Now where's the toilet?" (I really hope he knows what a toilet is.)

"I do know." (I've even been flushed down them...) Sissel got up from the couch. "I'll show you."

Kamila silently watched the two leave the room with a look of utter bewilderment on her face. Why was Sissel taking Yomiel with him? Surely he wasn't going to help him? She didn't see how that was possible when a cat was only capable of saying "meow". The young girl turned her gaze back to the television, trying not to think about all the weird things going on.

While all this was going on, Lynne was in the kitchen, rapidly downing a glass of water. She put it back in the sink and rested her head on her arms, sighing. Today was just utterly crazy. She returned to the living room and sat down. Her eyes were glazed over and she had a dull expression on her face.

"Lynne, are you okay?" Kamila asked.

"I don't know," Lynne muttered, resting her head against a cushion. "When will this all be over?"

There was a loud crash from the direction of the toilet.

"He fell over again, didn't he?" Lynne closed her eyes and sighed.

"Aw, poor Sissel. I wonder why he went in there with Mister Yomiel, since he can't really speak... oh, of course! Sissel must be able to understand what his meows mean since he's a cat, right?"

"Uh. Yeah, sure." Lynne side-eyed her. It wasn't like she could tell her about cores of the dead. Detective Jowd wanted his family to be blissfully unaware of powers of the dead for the time being.

Sissel and Yomiel returned to the room a few minutes later.

"Fell over again, did you?" Lynne asked of Sissel as he sat down next to her.

"Stupid pants tripped me up."

"Oh."

"Let's never talk about this again," Yomiel said.

"Yes, let's," Lynne agreed.

Sissel curled up against the sofa cushions, feeling guilty. It wasn't like he could help it and yet, he almost felt responsible for heaping all this trauma upon the two. They were all having a rough day and he just wished it could all be over.

***

By the time Detective Jowd returned from work, the situation had not changed any.

"What are we going to do?" Lynne asked helplessly. "I can't babysit Sissel tomorrow as well. I have a job!"

"Let's see how things are tomorrow," Jowd suggested. "Maybe they will have switched back by then. If not... well, I'll think of something. Don't worry. Anyway, I think Sissel will have to go back soon. A certain someone is going to be wondering where Yomiel got to."

"Ah, that's true. She would think it was strange for Yomiel to stay somewhere else overnight, wouldn't she?"

"Can't we just think of an excuse?" Sissel asked. He felt much more secure here where people were actually aware of his predicament.

"And what if you haven't switched back tomorrow?" Jowd pointed out. "Or the day after that? You can't keep avoiding her. The poor woman might start thinking her fiancé isn't interested in her anymore."

"That is the absolute last thing I want to happen," Yomiel stated, his voice sharp. He knew how much she depended on him too. If she was to think it was all over for them... he didn't even want to think about it.

"Then I have no choice." Sissel exhaled heavily. "I'll have to go back."

"I'll take you back," Lynne said. "It's too dangerous for you to be going around at night, isn't it?"

"Hmm... now I'm a little worried," Yomiel murmured, mostly to himself.

"What about?" Lynne inquired.

"Oh, er, it's nothing!" Yomiel said quickly. (What's going to happen with the two of them alone... oops.)

"Is that what you worried about?" Lynne raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"No! Just forget I said... or well, thought anything... I just..."

"I don't get it. What is he concerned about?" Sissel asked.

Yomiel realised they weren't going to let the subject go so easily. "It's just that, she doesn't know about the situation and, well, since we're obviously in love with each other..."

"I'm sure it will be fine. It's not like she's a man-eating tiger, right? Or is she?"

"No, she most certainly is not."

(Well, duh. She's a human.)

Lynne decided to ignore Sissel's oblivious thinking. "Yomiel's afraid that his fiancée is going to come on to you. Which is pretty likely."

"I see... so what should I do?"

"You should most certainly not, under any circumstances, return her affections," Yomiel said. "Try to reject her nicely, though. Just say you don't feel very well. That might work."

"Avoid anything that involves bodily contact," Lynne added. "Hugs are fine, but that's it."

"Now I'm getting a bit scared."

"Oh, it will be fine. Don't be a baby!" The redhead smiled teasingly. She took hold of his arm. "Well then, shall we go?"

Yomiel watched the two of them walk out the door and got that sinking feeling. He wasn't sure how things would go, but hopefully Sissel would be smart enough not to do anything that he wouldn't approve of him doing with his beloved. Maybe he would go through the phone to keep an eye on them. Just in case.

***

"Well, we made it." Lynne glanced at the house in front of them. "I wish you the best of luck, Sissel. Try not to do anything dumb, alright? Don't forget to use utensils at dinner if you need to."

"Yeah, I'll remember that. Thanks for all your help today."

"See you tomorrow... hopefully in your own body." Lynne started walking away, waving a hand.

Sissel opened the door and stepped inside. "I'm home," he announced loudly. (Unfortunately.) With Lynne gone and nobody to help him, he was feeling like he had been thrown into the deep end of a pool. He shut the door behind himself. The feeling of trepidation was growing ever stronger. How was he going to survive this evening?

"Welcome home, honey!" The lady of the house came out of the lounge. She threw her arms around him and planted a kiss directly on his lips. "So, what did you get up to today?"

"Um. Stuff." (Oh yeah, really convincing, self. Well done. You truly are a genius when it comes to thinking up excuses.)

"Dinner's already in the oven and we've got time to sit down and chat." Sissel took him by the arm and practically pulled him into the lounge, then they sat down on the couch. "So, anything interesting? You were gone all day so something must have happened, right?"

Really, absolutely nothing interesting had happened. All he had done was sit in a house and listen to Yomiel complain. The only 'interesting' thing to happen was Kamila getting kidnapped. "It wasn't very interesting, really. I was bored the whole time."

"You were? Oh, poor you." She leaned over and stroked his cheek. "But at least you're home now, Yomi. I missed you."

"I... missed you too?" Sissel was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable as she leaned onto him and stared into his eyes. Was this one of those things that Yomiel had warned him about?

"Sissel, be careful," Yomiel warned. He was sitting in a nearby core and watching. Apparently his fiancée had missed him a lot. She did tend to get a bit more affectionate after they spent some time apart. Considering the ten years they had spent separated by bars, he supposed it was only normal. Even he got a bit clingy sometimes, a little side-effect of her being dead in a different ten years.

"Wh-where did you come from?!"

"Hmph, aren't you happy to see me? Anyway, I think you should get out of there, fast."

"But how?! If I tell her to get off, I might hurt her feelings."

That was true, Yomiel thought. Sissel would be very shocked and hurt if he suddenly told her to leave him alone. He didn't want that. "Just say you're not well like I told you earlier."

"Okay..."

At this point, Sissel was gently pushing Sissel back against the cushions.

"U-um... Sissel... I... don't feel very well..."

"What?" Sissel paused, raising an eyebrow at him. "Have you been feeling unwell all day? You said you were feeling better when Lynne came over."

"It came back."

"Really?" Sissel narrowed her eyes and her mouth twitched in a smile. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you were pulling a sickie... but you did fall down the stairs this morning. Should I get you some medicine?"

"Uh, no thanks." Sissel was pretty sure he didn't need any. There wasn't anything actually wrong with him.

"Why are you using words like 'uh' and 'um' so much all of a sudden anyway?" She asked, leaning over him and putting her face close. "It's kind of cute actually. Something seems different about you but I can't quite put my finger on it."

(Could it be the fact I'm not actually Yomiel?)

"I think I like it." Sissel murmured, running her hands up his body. "Hmm, dinner won't be ready for-"

The TV suddenly came to life and the fiancée jumped up, startled by the explosion of noise from the set. "Did I sit on the remote? No, it's on the table... how odd." She got up and went to pick the remote up.

(Thank you, Yomiel.) Sissel scrambled off the sofa and, without thinking, crawled away on his hands and knees out of the room. Yomiel watched on in utter shock. Luckily, the other Sissel hadn't noticed his odd behaviour.

"Must find somewhere to hide," Sissel muttered to himself. Then he spotted the closet. "Oh, that looks good. Wait, am I on my hands and knees? Oops." He yanked open the closet door and crawled in, pulling the door shut behind himself. It was so dark and felt so comforting, he liked it. He pulled his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them, sighing. "This isn't so bad. Think I'll stay like this for a while."

"Sissel, whatever do you think you are doing?" Yomiel frowned at him.

"Hiding?" Sissel replied uncertainly. "I'm a bit scared."

"Oh come on. Just say you're not in the mood tonight. She would never rape me, you know."

"Um... Yomiel?"

"Yes?"

"What is... 'rape'?"

Yomiel became very still as he stared at the cat with his mouth hanging open. He clutched at his head and began making incomprehensible noises. Finally, he managed to compose himself. "Just tell her you don't feel like it!"

The flustered ghost then sped away on the nearest available cores, chastising himself. Of all the words he had to use in front of the cat, why did he have to use that one? Now he felt really stupid.

"Wah... Yomiel yelled at me again." Sissel let out a sniff.

The door swung open and a rectangle of light fell over him. Sissel raised his head to see the fiancée standing there.

"So this is where you were hiding, you silly thing." She put a hand on her hip, smiling. "I didn't scare you off, did I?"

Sissel opened and closed his mouth, finding himself unable to think of anything to say. Yeah, he was really bad at this.

"If you didn't feel like doing anything, all you had to do was say so. I guess you really are still unwell." She held out a hand to him and he took it, standing up. "Are you sure you don't need anything?"

"I just want to lie down for a bit, if that's okay."

"Alright then. Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes."

Dinner, fortunately, wasn't such a bad experience. Sissel managed to handle the utensils well and the other Sissel never noticed that anything was wrong.

"Was that good?" she asked, clearing the plates away. "You ate a lot."

"Yeah, it was." Sissel was sure anything would taste good to him after ten years of not being able to taste food, but it really was.

The rest of the evening passed by with no further incident. Yomiel decided it was safe to leave them alone and went back to Jowd's house. If he left Sissel's body alone for too long, two certain ladies might start getting worried about the cat especially when they didn't know about powers of the dead.

It got late and the next thing Sissel knew, the other Sissel was saying something about bedtime. He did feel very tired actually so he dragged himself upstairs and fell onto the bed.

(Okay, now what do I do? Hmm. Shoes off, I think. He wasn't wearing them in bed.) Sissel kicked them off and they fell to the floor. (He wasn't wearing these clothes either... oh no. Do I have to go through all that again? Maybe I'll just sleep in them.)

"Yomiel, aren't you going to change?" the other Sissel asked, staring at him as he pulled the sheet over his body.

"I'm tired."

"Oh, okay. Well, at least take your jacket off. It will get crumpled."

Sissel sat up and managed to shrug it off before falling back down on the pillow. The fiancée picked it up and put it on a hanger in the closet.

"I hope you'll be feeling better tomorrow."

(Yeah. Me too. And by 'feeling better', I mean back in my own body.) Sissel removed the sunglasses and put them on the table, then closed his eyes. Soon enough, he was drifting off into a deep sleep brought on by sheer exhaustion from the events of today.

***

"Huh?" Sissel was suddenly awake again. He blinked rapidly, staring into the darkness. Something was definitely different.

No, not different.

It was normal. For him anyway.

"Am I back to normal?" Sissel scrambled to his feet, waving his tail. If he had a tail, that was a very good sign. Just to make extra sure, he tried to switch into the Ghost World and saw the kitchen awash in red. (Yes! I'm back in my body!)

Sissel leaped out of the basket and tore through the house delightedly, mewing frantically. He was just so happy that everything was alright again and didn't care that he might be disrupting the family in the midst of their sleep.

"Sissel, what are you-" Jowd opened the door of his bedroom to see the cat tearing up and down the landing. Sissel stopped in front of him and mewed happily. "Are you back to normal?" He didn't think Yomiel would be running around and meowing like crazy. That would be plain bad manners.

Sissel responded with another mew.

"Well, that's very good." Jowd reached out to pat him on the head. "Try to keep it down, okay? It's late."

"What's going on?" Kamila opened her door. She reached up to rub her sleepy eyes.

Sissel raced over to her and pawed her legs, purring loudly. Maybe she would get the message.

"Ah, he's just happy," Jowd said. "Don't worry about it. Goodnight." He closed the door.

"Sissel, are you back to normal?" Kamila picked him up. Sissel rubbed his head against her chin affectionately. "Oh, you are? I'm so glad!" She carried him back into her room, beaming. "Hope it doesn't happen again. But whatever did make it happen in the first place?"

(I don't suppose we'll ever know. As long as it doesn't happen again, I don't really care.)

***

Yomiel awoke in the morning, to a mix of sheer relief and annoyance. The relief was of course at being in his own body. The annoyance came from finding out that Sissel had been too lazy to get changed and he was still in his suit. At least he wasn't wearing the jacket. Come to think of it, that would mean he was still wearing the underwear from the other night. The blond ran a tongue over his teeth, grimacing. They had suffered from a whole day and two nights of neglect; it didn't feel nice in the least.

Then again, did it all really matter when he was back in his own body? Yomiel wanted to pump his fists into the air and cheer loudly but then Sissel might think he was insane. He sat up in bed, breathing deeply. It felt so good to actually be alive and to feel again.

"You're awake?" Sissel rolled over, cracking one eye open. "How do you feel?"

"I feel much better." Yomiel lay back down and crawled over to kiss her deeply. He snaked his arms around her body and clutched her close to him, basking in her warmth.

"Oh, I'm so glad." Sissel snuggled into the crook of his body, her face lighting up. "I was really worried about you, Yomi."

Yomiel buried his face in her soft hair, smiling. He would stay like this for a good while, then after that, he would attend to his personal hygiene. Thank goodness it had only lasted one day.


End file.
